A mother who decided to take her Autistic son to Disney’s Hollywood Studio’s after the change in regulations we reported on October 1 of Disney’s change in policy regarding their Fast Pass tickets.
The outspoken Autism Hippie set her Facebook page up on August 13 this year and took her son, Mike along for a day out on October 9 on the day of the change in Disney’s rules, chronicling her day with video and Facebook updates.
In a series of videos she shows Mike, and herself queuing up four times to go on the The Great Movie Ride, using up the majority of her allotted fast pass tickets, having to eat her lunch quickly to go again, and then having to dart through crowds after her son, when Disney have recommended that she be ordering her disability passes through their Smartphone App.
As she says in this video:
“So here I am chasing after Michael through the crowds. This is when Disney want me to be to be checking my app to check the wait time so I can get my disability pass according to the wait times. Yeah, if I take my eyes off him then I’ve lost him, he’s gone. This is not working.”
During the course of the day, there is a culmination of visible stress, that is apparent from the videos, the queuing takes its toll on Michael, who after a day of being patient melts down before going home.
Autism Hippie comments that the Special needs access that would have been used by her previously is now only used for wheelchair bound people and children, that SEN children are now bundled in with the masses, so as in Michae’ls case, when an episode occurs, that she is incapable of curbing tendencies like “self injurious behaviour or flapping” which could result in someone else getting hurt. Also she comments that the rides no longer have designated SEN seats, so she feels that other people out to enjoy the rides could be put off by behaviours they’re not sympathetic to.
Stacy Moore Richardson, a mother of autistic children who plans to visit the same site on October 26 comments:
I have been following your post today and I am in tears for you and with you. My son has severe autism and he enjoys so little. Another thing is what happens when I wait (lets pretend this can happen without screaming, jumping to land on his knees or biting himself) for a certain ride and he decides he wants to do a different ride. We walk to a kiosk and wait again? My heart is breaking for all of these kids.
After reporting her visit however, she received a number of messages from people who allegedly worked for Disney:
There are still schemes in place for people with SEN children who wish to visit the Disney studios and the Magical Kingdom, if your experience has been different to Autism Hippie’s we would love to hear your story. Please email editor@autismdailynewscast.com
**Editor Update October 13th**
We embrace our readership and your varied opinions, but would ask our readers and commenter’s to appreciate that these are people’s real experiences and not to attack the contributors of the posts. We appreciate feedback and your opinion, but comments that are negative and attacking in nature are deleted. We thank you for your cooperation. Comments on Autism Hippie’s experiences are now closed and comments on Temporary Tourist’s experiences will be closed on October 15.